Opgeruimd staat netjes!

It’s been one of those weeks in which you don’t have time for anything and at home things are piling up and it’s turning into a mess! Today I finally had time to clean up (a bit). When a room is tidy and in good order, in Dutch we say it’s ‘netjes’. So, ‘opgeruimd staat netjes’ says something like ‘cleaned up looks neat/tidy’. You use the phrase to state/emphasize that cleaning up is a good thing, since the result is that everything looks ‘netjes’. (Note that in this phrase the verb ‘staan’ translates as ‘looks’ or ‘makes one/something look’.) The phrase is also often used when you finally succeed in getting rid of somebody 🙂

‘Netjes’ can also apply to the way one is dressed, e.g. ‘je ziet er netjes uit’ (which translates as ‘you look smart’), or ‘netjes gekleed zijn’ (to be smartly dressed).

– “Heb je gehoord dat ze Frank eindelijk ontslagen hebben?” – “Ja, opgeruimd staat netjes zou ik zeggen, die gast liep de kantjes er vanaf.” (“Did you hear they finally fired Frank?” – “Yes, good riddance to him is what I’d say, that guy never did more than the bare minimum.” Note that the expression ‘de kantjes er vanaf lopen’ implies that the effort delivered is in fact insufficient. ‘Kant’ means ‘side’ in Dutch and the expression originally meant that you were avoiding work, always staying on the side.)

– “De verkrachter is veroordeeld tot 10 jaar cel. Het publiek dat aanwezig was bij de veroordeling reageerde met een ‘opgeruimd staat netjes’.” (“The rapist was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The audience that was present during the sentence responded with a ‘good riddance to him’.”)

Expressions:
– “Die zijn we kwijt!”: Finally we got rid of her/him!
– “Het staat je netjes!”: This literally says “it looks good on you”, but is often used ironically so say that whatever you did or are doing does not look good on you at all.
– “Orde op zaken stellen”: to restore order / to put things right / to take care of business.

Example:– “Ik heb het heel druk gehad en moet nu hoog nodig eerst thuis orde op zaken stellen.”(“I have been very busy and I really must first restore order at home.” Lit. “…and must now highly urgently first restore…”)

3 thoughts on “Opgeruimd staat netjes!”

I am so glad a friend referred me to your site, it’s a lot of fun! I can’t wait to show it to my family & friends in hopes they too get pleasure out of learning Dutch words & sayings. Maybe you could use “dolblij” for an upcoming post??? 🙂 Danica Martin